Wow. I’m surprised that so many people seem to think this looks good? Colours isn’t a bad game, but IMO it’s hugely overrated. It got all of it’s praise for being the first 3D Sonic game without any major design flaws (like fishing or fighting), sloppy gameplay (as in Shadow) or bugs out the whazoo (as in ’06), but entirely by its own merits it’s just not that great. For a supposedly 3D game, well over half of your time playing is spent in 2D. And what little 3D areas there are tend to be wide, empty corridors. Sonic’s controls are also really stiff, the platforming is bland and the Colour Powers are pretty intrusive to the overall flow. Colours isn’t bad, but it’s far from being “the best 3D Sonic game”. It’s BARELY 3D.
That said, there’s absolutely no faulting the graphics and music of Colours Wii. The game really, really shone in those departments. It looked absolutely fantastic for a 480p Wii game in 2010. And the soundtrack was just sublime. It seems like they’ve remastered or remixed some of the music for Ultimate and I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet…
On to Colours Ultimate specifically though… oof. No, this doesn’t look good. The lighting is dreadful, especially Tropical Resort. The bright, vivid colours of the original Wii game have been washed out by bloom, and shadows are so dark now that they make things appear black. Sonic’s animations haven’t been improved at all, and in fact now look worse because his eyes don’t move even though they did in the Wii version. Even his mouth is is painted on instead of being fully modelled. Certain shadows are even missing in Planet Wisp (such as on the polluted river under the grind rail) and the level of pop-in is embarrassing. I encourage you all to look up some comparison images of the game and see how the two versions stack up.
Like this here, comparing Planet Wisp https://twitter.com/LotteYanson_/status/1404197968480198665
Why is it do dark? The Wii version should not look this much better, but it does! It’s shameful.
Does it look awful? No, certainly not. I’m so obsessed with Sonic that I’m going to notice and critique things that others may not bat an eyelid at. But it looks like an upscaled Wii game with broken lighting. And considering just how gorgeous the original was, this is a huge disappointment.
Colours paved the way most Sonic games that came after it, with Forces superficially resembling Generations but practically playing a lot more like Colours. And Forces was trash. SEGA learned all the wrong lessons from the success of Colours. I don’t want this game to bomb or anything. But I hope that reviews come out and say “Colours is alright, but not as good as we remember it being”. Cause I really don’t think it’s all that hot. It’s just alright and nothing more.
